Michael Isaacson. Twitter
The head of the city’s largest police union is calling for the firing of a John Jay College professor after he tweeted “it’s a privilege to teach future dead cops.”
Professor Michael Isaacson, a self-proclaimed member of the Antifa movement who works in the economics department at the CUNY Manhattan college, tweeted from the account @VulgarEconomics: “Some of ya’ll might think it sucks being an anti-fascist teaching at John Jay College but I think it’s a privilege to teach future dead cops” on Aug. 23.
Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association boss Pat Lynch wrote a letter saying Isaacson “harbors total disdain for the active and future police officers that he teaches at John Jay College.”
In a Friday letter to Karol Mason, president of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Lynch demanded the “immediate dismissal” of Isaacson “on behalf of nearly 50,000 active and retired New York City police officers who are members of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association of the City of New York.”
“Recent media reports have revealed Mr. Isaacson’s disgusting anti-police attitudes and his gleeful embrace of political violence, including violence against police officers, as expressed in his own social media postings,” Lynch wrote.
Lynch continued: “It is absolutely outrageous that an individual who holds and expresses these views could be employed by any academic institution, much less one that counts an overwhelming number of New York City police officers as among its students, alumni and faculty members.”
He wrote that Isaacson’s “continued presence will make it next to impossible for John Jay College to maintain any respect or credibility among the women and men who have dedicated their lives protecting this city, or among prospective students considering a law enforcement career.”
In the bio on Isaacson’s alleged Twitter account, he calls himself an “economist,” “educator” and “antifascist.”
Isaacson on Friday said in an email to The Post: “I critique policing as an institution which operates at the behest of a state that increasingly represents the weapons and prison industry rather than the public they’re supposed to serve through decades of gerrymandering by both Republicans and Democrats.”
“I illuminate this fact in my classes in the hopes that my students are able to choose a career path that does not put them in the position of having to act as an agent of that institution,” the professor wrote.
Isaacson refused to answer any further follow-up questions, saying “those are the only comments at this time, thanks.”
John Jay College spokeswoman Doreen Viñas-Pineda said the school has been made “aware” of the incident and would be releasing a statement Friday afternoon.